Monday, December 24, 2012

'Tis The Season...to continue to be zero waste!

Furoshiki and other such things make this Christmas a wonderful thing.


Love being able to wrap something with cloth and wanted to share what our Christmas tree looks like sans wrapped gifts... it's a beautiful sight, especially knowing that on Christmas morning - we won't have that infamous black garbage bag with mounds of paper, plastic, ribbon, bows, tape, and other such items one uses for gifts *shudder* - those cloths will either be returned to their home in the house, or simply folded, and saved for the next gift to give.... consistent with last year, nothing shall going to the landfill in my family! :)

Two of my cloths were purchased from The Soap Dispensary; I got a few others from this awesome store on Granville Island, Maiwa, (highly recommend checking it out!) they sell a plethora of amazing items but specifically, beautiful fabrics, with such beautiful patterns which you can buy by the meter (about $15/meter) - what's extra special about the fabrics is that they are organic cotton and the dyes used to make these beautiful fabrics are hand dyed with all natural dyes - all around a great shop and ethic to support. I think typically one would get the fabric and sew the ends so it doesn't fray, but I don't really know how to sew very well (yet! - it's a goal of mine) so I just left it as is - seemed to work just fine.
There's just something about the simplicity and beauty of Furoshiki - I just absolutely love it! It warms my heart knowing  it can be used an endless amount of times! The middle one there is from Maiwa, and the two on the ends are from Soap Dispensary. You can see the table cloth, and the flag, and the other miscellaneous bags! Re-use Re-use Re-Use! 

The rest (since I didn't have enough cloths - and actually I recommend this method FIRST :) because chances are we all have more lying around the house to re-use for a period of time, then go back to it's other function) was simply using re-usable bags, pillow cases, even an old flag (that had been ripped from being outside for so long, and was just sitting in the closet!)...I also used a table cloth! It was super fun looking around the house for what I could wrap some gifts in.

I've always disliked wrapping presents because I was too impatient to cut the paper straight, and fold it all nice, it felt weird wasting it...and I'd inevitably wrap it the worst way....now it's a fun, exciting event, I'd even go so far as to say a treasure hunt! Knowing that it's all going to be re-used again and again, no more waste, a great feeling!

I was going to try to do the whole "to and from" in my head, but then I started getting confused, so I ended up just cutting up little squares from a cereal box, that I found in the recycling bin, and writing on those, and then placing them within the fabric so they'd stay - no tape! :) I've also, in the past, just cut a little hole in it, and then tied a string around it - or hair elastic - something that was already in existence in my house. Another great item is old business cards! We tend to have SO many of those lying around - a great use for them instead of just recycling them all at once.

Of course, giving experiences as gifts, or donations to charities, or your own time, instead of tangible items mean even less waste - and that was part of my goal, as well! What are some of the things YOU do?? I'd love to hear them!


Boo likes it! :) Zero-Waste Kitty!

Merry and Meowy Christmas! Joyeux Noel!  Feliz Natal!